Author's note: I would like to take the time to apologize to DA's staff and userbase for not being around for 3 months. I felt hypocritical about leading a site when I didn't play the game of Yugioh. Couple this with anxiety issues, work, university and a dad who is going on disability and... yeah. That doesn't excuse me leaving you guys. However, I wish to teach, and educate.
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This is the best lesson I can give you, I think. I'm going to pick apart a Regionals that I attended.
3 Wind-Up Shark
3 Wind-Up Magician
3 Wind-Up Rabbit
3 Wind-Up Rat
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper
3 Wind-Up Factory
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Forbidden Lance
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Fire Formation - Tenki
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
2 Mirror Force
1 Dimensional Prison
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Fiendish Chain
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
1 Tiras, Keeper of Genesis
1 Photon Papilloperative
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Soul of Silvermountain
1 Number 50: Blackship of Corn
1 Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction
1 Number 16: Shock Master
2 Maxx "C"
2 Snowman Eater
2 Dimensional Fissure
2 Level Limit Area B
2 Dust Tornado
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Soul Taker
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Tsukuyomi
1 Effect Veiler
This is a six-round regionals. There's 53 people at the place, and quite simply, it smells bad. I'm not too pleased about arrangements, but it'll have to do.
The three nights before, I had 6, 2, and 6 hours' sleep, so we're going right into the first thing to do before a Regionals: Go to sleep. Staying up might seem to be a good idea but all-in-all you are not going to perform as best you can with a combo deck, and Heroes are a combo deck.
I'm not going to go into much detail on matches apart from mistakes.
R1: Versus Brad (Water)
G1: He OTKs me on turn 2. There's nothing I can do, I side what I think is the right side. I forgot Dust Tornadoes though by accident. (Mistake count: 1)
G2: Opposite of G1. Grinding game, I do so effectively and finally manage to attack him for game.
G3: We have another grinding game, and they call time on my turn. I am in trouble, he's up about 3500 LP with 5 turns left. I go for broke, try to attack for game and he has Gorz. Not really a mistake there, because I had to do damage. However, I'm able to kill his token and set Judgment. He swings over my Zenmaity, sets 2 and passes. I get rid of his Gorz with my Adreus and TGU into an Acid Golem. I attack with Acid Golem first (Mistake count: 2). I wanted to make sure I had LP on my side but he activated an Abyss-sphere. I Judgment and manage to win in time anyway.
1-0
2 mistakes
R2: Versus Brad (HERO)
Game 1: I make a lot of things quickly and attempt to overwhelm him, just to run into a maindecked Gorz. Sigh. (Mistake count: 3) He ends up taking control and I don't have a Rat, with Pot of Avarice nowhere to be found.
Game 2: I play a lot more controlling but I open Shark-Magician too, so I went into Maestroke-Tiras-Zenmaity first turn. He never recovers. (Errorless game!)
Game 3: Easily my worst game of the day, he opens, sets 2, passes. I draw 5 traps and a TGU. I go into Zenmaines and he uses Super Poly. I set my traps and don't draw into monsters.
1-1
Mistake count: 3
Round 3: Versus Shane (Water)
Game 1: I open Shark/Magician and wreck. No mistakes, the game was done superbly fast.
Game 2: He opens an OTK and Heavy. GG.
Game 3: I open Shark/Magician again, and he simply can't deal with all the big monsters in his hand.
2-1
Mistake count: 3
Round 4: Versus Jordan (Inzektors)
Game 1: I open exactly how I want to and grind the game away. Tiras-Maestroke his stuff and proceed to wreck. I figure out he's playing Inzektors really early.
Game 2: I side appropriately but I don't see a single D-Fissure, and he set his Sangan. I ran into it, he grabs Hornet and makes plays for days on me, setting up an OTK with a Solemn Judgment.
Game 3: We go into time and I make Shock Master, call monsters. He sets something, passes. I have 2k life on him and a warning set. I call traps with Shock Master, and he flips over Threatening Roar as a chain. Mistake 1: Calling traps instead of monsters
Mistake 2: Not switching the monsters into defense mode (I was nervous, we were in time, and for some reason forgot to)
He flips over Dragonfly, I Warning and he drops Centipede with Hornet. He then activates Reborn, pops the Tiras that has no Xyz attachments and I simply scoop.
2-2
Mistake Count: 5
Round 5: Versus HERO Rabbit (Didn't catch his name)
Game 1: I suspect he's playing Rabbit because of the Guaiba but then he drops a Stratos. Confusing as heck, but anyhow. Well-timed Heavy Storm clears his field and I can get over his monsters with Shark/Magician.
Game 2: See game 1, except with MSTs instead of Heavy Storms.
3-2
Mistake Count: 5
Round 6: Versus Watts (Didn't catch his name, either)
Game 1: Goes exactly how it should. I get monsters, I grind away instead of OTK, it's not even a contest.
Game 2: He and I both side, and he drops Rai-Oh/Gozen Match on turn 3. No MSTs. Used Heavy Storm earlier to make a decent push, but got wrecked pretty swiftly.
Game 3: I open five traps + Magician. He opens Wattgiraffe, another monster and Recycling Batteries. I never get the chance to make plays, even though I keep a Magician on the field for five turns.
3-3
Mistake Count: 5
Not getting enough sleep before the event
Not getting enough practice with Wind-Ups before the event
Not familiarizing myself enough with rogue decks prior to the event
Not analyzing the meta
Not taking an extra moment to check my plays
Mistake Count: 10
Out of the 6 people I played, 2 bubbled out, the guy who I played 1st round placed 7th and the guy I played 4th round placed 8th. So, I actually had quite a skillful day.
Props:
Learning about all the mistakes I made.
A guy I played saying I was good (Water guy from R1, he Day 2'd Providence 2012)
Slops:
Not topping (seriously, I plan on going to Nationals this year)
Not playing a deck I knew how to play well (comfortability issues)
Worst in the carload (22nd of 53 - everyone else was top 16, and there were SIX of us)
In conclusion, I'd like to say this.
If you practice playing Yugioh, every day, then someday you might make it to Day 2 of a YCS, if you choose to do so. If you don't, topping even the smallest of Regionals will be a very difficult task.
-Dante
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the best lesson I can give you, I think. I'm going to pick apart a Regionals that I attended.
3 Wind-Up Shark
3 Wind-Up Magician
3 Wind-Up Rabbit
3 Wind-Up Rat
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper
3 Wind-Up Factory
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Forbidden Lance
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Fire Formation - Tenki
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
2 Mirror Force
1 Dimensional Prison
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Fiendish Chain
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
1 Tiras, Keeper of Genesis
1 Photon Papilloperative
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Soul of Silvermountain
1 Number 50: Blackship of Corn
1 Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction
1 Number 16: Shock Master
2 Maxx "C"
2 Snowman Eater
2 Dimensional Fissure
2 Level Limit Area B
2 Dust Tornado
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Soul Taker
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Tsukuyomi
1 Effect Veiler
This is a six-round regionals. There's 53 people at the place, and quite simply, it smells bad. I'm not too pleased about arrangements, but it'll have to do.
The three nights before, I had 6, 2, and 6 hours' sleep, so we're going right into the first thing to do before a Regionals: Go to sleep. Staying up might seem to be a good idea but all-in-all you are not going to perform as best you can with a combo deck, and Heroes are a combo deck.
I'm not going to go into much detail on matches apart from mistakes.
R1: Versus Brad (Water)
G1: He OTKs me on turn 2. There's nothing I can do, I side what I think is the right side. I forgot Dust Tornadoes though by accident. (Mistake count: 1)
G2: Opposite of G1. Grinding game, I do so effectively and finally manage to attack him for game.
G3: We have another grinding game, and they call time on my turn. I am in trouble, he's up about 3500 LP with 5 turns left. I go for broke, try to attack for game and he has Gorz. Not really a mistake there, because I had to do damage. However, I'm able to kill his token and set Judgment. He swings over my Zenmaity, sets 2 and passes. I get rid of his Gorz with my Adreus and TGU into an Acid Golem. I attack with Acid Golem first (Mistake count: 2). I wanted to make sure I had LP on my side but he activated an Abyss-sphere. I Judgment and manage to win in time anyway.
1-0
2 mistakes
R2: Versus Brad (HERO)
Game 1: I make a lot of things quickly and attempt to overwhelm him, just to run into a maindecked Gorz. Sigh. (Mistake count: 3) He ends up taking control and I don't have a Rat, with Pot of Avarice nowhere to be found.
Game 2: I play a lot more controlling but I open Shark-Magician too, so I went into Maestroke-Tiras-Zenmaity first turn. He never recovers. (Errorless game!)
Game 3: Easily my worst game of the day, he opens, sets 2, passes. I draw 5 traps and a TGU. I go into Zenmaines and he uses Super Poly. I set my traps and don't draw into monsters.
1-1
Mistake count: 3
Round 3: Versus Shane (Water)
Game 1: I open Shark/Magician and wreck. No mistakes, the game was done superbly fast.
Game 2: He opens an OTK and Heavy. GG.
Game 3: I open Shark/Magician again, and he simply can't deal with all the big monsters in his hand.
2-1
Mistake count: 3
Round 4: Versus Jordan (Inzektors)
Game 1: I open exactly how I want to and grind the game away. Tiras-Maestroke his stuff and proceed to wreck. I figure out he's playing Inzektors really early.
Game 2: I side appropriately but I don't see a single D-Fissure, and he set his Sangan. I ran into it, he grabs Hornet and makes plays for days on me, setting up an OTK with a Solemn Judgment.
Game 3: We go into time and I make Shock Master, call monsters. He sets something, passes. I have 2k life on him and a warning set. I call traps with Shock Master, and he flips over Threatening Roar as a chain. Mistake 1: Calling traps instead of monsters
Mistake 2: Not switching the monsters into defense mode (I was nervous, we were in time, and for some reason forgot to)
He flips over Dragonfly, I Warning and he drops Centipede with Hornet. He then activates Reborn, pops the Tiras that has no Xyz attachments and I simply scoop.
2-2
Mistake Count: 5
Round 5: Versus HERO Rabbit (Didn't catch his name)
Game 1: I suspect he's playing Rabbit because of the Guaiba but then he drops a Stratos. Confusing as heck, but anyhow. Well-timed Heavy Storm clears his field and I can get over his monsters with Shark/Magician.
Game 2: See game 1, except with MSTs instead of Heavy Storms.
3-2
Mistake Count: 5
Round 6: Versus Watts (Didn't catch his name, either)
Game 1: Goes exactly how it should. I get monsters, I grind away instead of OTK, it's not even a contest.
Game 2: He and I both side, and he drops Rai-Oh/Gozen Match on turn 3. No MSTs. Used Heavy Storm earlier to make a decent push, but got wrecked pretty swiftly.
Game 3: I open five traps + Magician. He opens Wattgiraffe, another monster and Recycling Batteries. I never get the chance to make plays, even though I keep a Magician on the field for five turns.
3-3
Mistake Count: 5
Not getting enough sleep before the event
Not getting enough practice with Wind-Ups before the event
Not familiarizing myself enough with rogue decks prior to the event
Not analyzing the meta
Not taking an extra moment to check my plays
Mistake Count: 10
Out of the 6 people I played, 2 bubbled out, the guy who I played 1st round placed 7th and the guy I played 4th round placed 8th. So, I actually had quite a skillful day.
Props:
Learning about all the mistakes I made.
A guy I played saying I was good (Water guy from R1, he Day 2'd Providence 2012)
Slops:
Not topping (seriously, I plan on going to Nationals this year)
Not playing a deck I knew how to play well (comfortability issues)
Worst in the carload (22nd of 53 - everyone else was top 16, and there were SIX of us)
In conclusion, I'd like to say this.
If you practice playing Yugioh, every day, then someday you might make it to Day 2 of a YCS, if you choose to do so. If you don't, topping even the smallest of Regionals will be a very difficult task.
-Dante